How hard is it to book a hotel room without a credit card?
Depends on the hotel. Most today seem to use a card to guarantee the reservation - so they can still be paid if you fail to show up without cancelling by the stated time. When you get there, though, they’ll often let you pay cash.
More upmarket hotels may not take cash at all, though I haven’t come across too many of those.
Policies vary, is the short answer. If you have a particular hotel in mind, best to call them and ask. Online bookings nearly always need a card - either for prepayment or for guarantee as mentioned above.
I’ve done it a few times. You pay cash up front and maybe a small deposit for incidentals when you get there. Don’t let them make you pay a large deposit–it’s never been more than say $20 for me. I’ve done this in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and even Edinburgh, with a wire transfer. They will be surprised at first, but they can’t really argue if you are paying in full ahead of time, and I’ve always been treated very well when I arrived.
If all else fails, you can buy a single-use or reloadable gift card from a bank or credit union or a reloadable debit card along the lines of Green Dot (although IMHO they suck donkey ass) and use it to book the room. Be sure, whichever route you choose, that you are fully conversant with all of the terms and conditions, especially fees. I work with a variety of these cards and a lot of them have fairly intricate fee schedules and a few are tricky to get authorizations through.
When I started working for AT&T in 1980 we had a rule that we were not allowed to use credit cards while traveling, not even our own. Airline flights and rental cars were direct billed, and we got a big cash advance for hotels and meals. That worked because the hotels know AT&T was good for the money, but it was a royal pain, especially if plans changed and we had to stay for another night. We were very happy to finally get company credit cards.
The main reason why hotels want a credit card is that they want to be able to charge you if you steal the TV or trash the room. It’s rather easy for a hotel to lose a big chunk of money on one guy who trashes the room.
Making a reservation may be difficult unless it is the off season. Once you get to the hotel, they will size you up for how likely you are to steal TVs. You want to look clean, respectable, like you have a good reason to stay in the hotel, but not like you are made of money. They make up the price on the spot based on how you look, too. “German tourist in a cable-knit sweater” is a good look to go for.
They will ask for a deposit, the size of which is relative to how clean-cut you look. Where I was it went from $50-$300.
Thanks for the advice, friends. Once again, the Dopers come through!